I came across Gwendolyn Brooks' 1953-published novella, Maud Martha, on JacquiWine's blog last year, and was confident it was a book for me - so I bought the e-Book version and read it slowly on my phone and iPad whenever I was out and about. This sort of reading doesn't work for all books, but … Continue reading Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha (#BookReview)
Literature by period
Meet the Author: Dervla McTiernan
You’ve heard me say it before and I’m sure to say it again, I am not a “crime reader” - but I do read crime novels when something about them catches my attention. I have been interested to read Irish-born Australian writer Dervla McTiernan since her first book started appearing with positive reviews on the … Continue reading Meet the Author: Dervla McTiernan
Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land (#BookReview)
There was a collective cheer from the four librarians in my reading group when one of our members read Anthony Doerr’s dedication for his latest novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land. It goes like this “For the librarians then, now, and in the years to come”. Thank you Anthony! Cloud Cuckoo Land, at over 600 pages, is … Continue reading Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land (#BookReview)
Claire G. Coleman, Night bird (#Review)
Wirlomin-Noongar woman Claire G. Coleman's short story "Night bird" is the second First Nations Australia story in Ellen van Neerven and Rafeif Ismail's anthology Unlimited futures: Speculative, visionary Blak+Black fiction, the book I chose for Bill's (The Australian Legend) Australian Women Writers Gen 5 Week. The week finished officially a week ago, but I'm hoping … Continue reading Claire G. Coleman, Night bird (#Review)
D’Arcy Niland, The parachutist (#Review)
D'Arcy Niland has appeared in my blog before but not in his own right. He was the Australian-born husband of the New Zealand-born Australian writer Ruth Park. I have posted on their collaborative memoir, The drums go bang, and have written specifically about Ruth Park, but have never written specifically on Niland before. Niland is … Continue reading D’Arcy Niland, The parachutist (#Review)
Ambelin Kwaymullina, Fifteen days on Mars (#Review)
In 2014, Ambelin Kwaymullina, whose people are the Palyku of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, described herself in a Kill Your Darlings essay as writing "speculative fiction for young adults". Three years later, in the 2017 Twelfth Planet Press anthology, Mother of invention, she said that she was "a Palyku author of Indigenous Futurisms", … Continue reading Ambelin Kwaymullina, Fifteen days on Mars (#Review)
Sandy Gordon, Leaving Owl Creek (#BookReview)
I do enjoy receiving books from non-profit independent publisher, Finlay Lloyd. Their books are physically distinctive, being longer and narrower than the norm, and they have a stylish, minimalist, design, which makes them lovely to look at and hold. They also appeal content-wise because Finlay Lloyd consciously, it seems to me, publishes books that regardless … Continue reading Sandy Gordon, Leaving Owl Creek (#BookReview)
Jessica Au, Cold enough for snow (#BookReview)
What did I say about mothers and daughters recently? Just when I thought I'd done with them for the year, along came another, Jessica Au's gorgeous novella, Cold enough for snow. However, before I get to that, let me describe the award it won, The Novel Prize. Cold enough for snow was the inaugural winner … Continue reading Jessica Au, Cold enough for snow (#BookReview)
Nell Pierce, A place near Eden (#BookReview)
Nell Pierce's debut novel, A place near Eden, won the 2022 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. It was my reading group's last book of the year, and it engendered a lively discussion, partly because our response was mixed and partly because its setting on the south coast of New South Wales is well-known to us. Part … Continue reading Nell Pierce, A place near Eden (#BookReview)
Lucy Neave, Believe in me (#BookReview)
Mother-daughter stories - in fiction and nonfiction - seem to have been particularly popular in recent years. Lucy Neave's second novel Believe in me is one of these, but just this year I've read several others, including Larissa Behrendt's novel After story and Jane Sinclair's hybrid biography-memoir Shy love smiles and acid drops. Their trajectories … Continue reading Lucy Neave, Believe in me (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 